RedEye's Matt Pais talks to the 'Fun Size' star at the Park Hyatt hotel in Chicago.

RedEye's Matt Pais talks to the 'Fun Size' star at the Park Hyatt hotel in Chicago.

Victoria Justice recognized the demographic jump she’d be making from her hit Nickelodeon show “Victorious” to the PG-13 rated film “Fun Size.”

“I was like, ‘Don’t really know if this is going to fly,’” says Justice of wariness toward using the not-so-kid-friendly language her “Fun Size” character, Wren. “That was toned down a little bit. She’s definitely still a very relatable teenage girl, but she’s not quite as mouthy.”

The Friday release, written by “The Colbert Report” writer Max Werner and directed by Josh Schwartz of “The O.C.” and “Gossip Girl," focuses on Wren’s effort to attend a huge Halloween bash while not losing sight of the kid brother she’s assigned to babysit, still has reason to attract older viewers. Chelsea Handler plays Wren’s mom; “Project X” star Thomas Mann plays a kid with a crush on Wren; and “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville plays the villain.

At the Park Hyatt, the 19-year-old Justice, who’s currently working on her debut album and expects to release the first single early next year, talked about scary movies and Halloween costumes, transitioning into more adult fare and her considerable love of mustaches.

With Halloween approaching, what’s a movie that really scared you? Tell me what that experience was like.I’m like a baby when it comes to scary movies. I thoroughly enjoy them and I love that thrill, but mentally they affect me so that when I get home I’m paranoid. As soon as I step into my house I like turn all the lights on and get freaked out about the dark. I think when I saw “The Exorcist” when I was little, I think that really freaked me out. “The Ring”—all those creepy movies.

Did you make it through the whole movie or turn it off and run?Yeah, I make it through the whole movie. It’s like the psychological damage that it does to me [laughs] is not actually worth watching the movie.

Between your experience on “Gilmore Girls” and “Fun Size,” it seems like Halloween has been a big part of your career for a while. Tell me your favorite costume you’ve ever worn on Halloween.[Laughs.] “Gilmore Girls,” that’s really bringing it back. That was my first job on TV when I got to L.A. I played a hobbit from “Lord of the Rings.” My favorite costume I’ve ever worn off-screen, I was a ketchup bottle one year. I really liked that costume just because it was something different. Not everyone goes as a ketchup bottle. [Laughs.]

Why did that appeal to you?I don’t know. I’ve always been a quirky gal so it was just kind of up my alley. And then I dressed up as Sally Bowles from “Cabaret” last year. And that was kind of fun. I had a short black wig, and I did my makeup myself. I put these huge eyelashes on, a red feather boa and fishnets and hat. It was fun.

What is the secret to transitioning from more kid-friendly material? Is there anyone you look at who has done a good job of making that transition?I think Justin Timberlake is a good example in a lot of ways. He started off doing the Disney Mouseketeer thing, which you can’t get more squeaky clean than that. And then he was in N’Sync which is like a boy band, and then he transitioned into having this really legitimate solo music career and now he’s doing films and he’s the leading man. So I think he’s doing a pretty good job.

What’s your favorite thing he’s ever done?“Social Network” is one of my favorite movies. I think it’s incredibly well-written and well-done and absolutely brilliant. There are a few good JT solo songs. [Laughs.]

About living at home you’ve said, “I know I’m going to be moving out in a few years, but I’m not ready yet. I’m still 19, I have a lot to learn.” What’s something you feel like you still have to learn?A lot of stuff. I’ve been working nonstop since I was little. When I started my show when I was 16, that’s when things got really crazy. So I’ve spent these past couple years being so busy and not being able to really hang out at home as much as I’d like to and spend quality time with my family. I want to be able to do more of that. And go on family vacations. I love that kind of stuff.

When was the last time you had time to do something like that?I don’t know, a long time. Learn how to do my own laundry. [Laughs.]

Learn how to do your laundry?Kind of. [Laughs.] I’m not domesticated yet. I haven’t had time to learn. I don’t drive. I got a ways to go.

Do you have an age by which you hope to have your license?I mean, 19 I think is a good age to have it. So when I get a break I’m definitely [going to get it].

Have you done the permit training?Yeah, I have my permit. I just haven’t had time to practice, and I don’t want to get on the road if I don’t feel comfortable. I don’t want to be like stressing out and panicking; I want to feel like good about it. Just gotta ease into it.

I’m not sure if it was an official bio of yours but somewhere I read that you experienced trials and tribulations of the business that motivated you to be around it more. Was there a moment in your career that you were like “I hope this works out” or were you ever worried about things?Honestly, I have to pinch myself every single day because I’ve been incredibly lucky thus far in my career. I’ve been consistently working since I was 11 when I first moved out to L.A. and I have amazingly supportive parents that have been going along through it with me. But I mean there’s so much rejection in this business. I would go on tons of auditions and the amount of times you get said yes to to the amount of times you get said no to are incomparable. There’s so many more nos than yeses. You learn, I’ve learned, not to take it personally at a young age. You can only do your best. I feel like as long as you come in prepared and you work hard, that’s all you can really do.

Can you think of something you were turned down for that you were really hoping for?Yeah. I remember there was a Robert Rodriguez film called “[The Adventures of] Sharkboy and Lavagirl” and it was down to me and another girl for Lavagirl, and the other girl ended up getting it and her name is Taylor Dooley. But we actually became really good friends after that. Me, Taylor Lautner [who played Sharkboy] and Taylor Dooley, we would all hang out all the time. So I mean I think I was bummed when I found out I didn’t get it but like anything you move on. If it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be.

You love mustaches. Why?[Laughs.] Honestly the whole mustache thing is so random. And it’s crazy because mustaches are so popular right now. It’s become this huge trend. Not to be that guy, but I’m going to be that guy: I was on the mustache train like 3 1/2 years ago. I was one of the first people that started tweeting about mustaches and wearing fake mustaches.

You were randomly wearing fake mustaches?Just like as a joke. I just thought they were hilarious. And honestly when I would see people out and about, like a guy that had an amazing mustache, you can tell, like, “Wow, that dude put a lot of time into that. He worked on that thing for like an hour before he walked out the door.” I just like had this connection with them, I was like, “That’s amazing, good for you.” It just translated into my social media. I started tweeting about it occasionally, and people that followed me and fans and stuff just latched onto it and it’s become this big thing. And now at meet-and-greets and fan mail, people will send me mustache earrings, mustache band-aids, mustache mugs, just mustaches. Constantly. It’s hilarious.

What do you say about mustaches on Twitter?I created this smiley, an emoticon that is like a semicolon, a bracket that looks like a mustache ( ;{) ), and then a parentheses. So I created my own mustache smiley. And now people use it. It’s amazing!

And apparently you have insane control over your eyebrows and can make them ripple in a wave?[She starts doing it.]

I didn’t have to ask you. You were just ready to do it at any moment.Oh yeah. That is the eyebrow wave.

How did you find out that you could do that?I don’t know. I think I’ve always been really expressive with my face and I’ve always been able to arch one, arch the other, I can do both. It’s weird. And then I just realized that I could make them move in unison. It’s a weird thing.

I feel like there’s a dance craze waiting to be started.Totally. [Laughs.]

Plus:On Chicago: “I haven’t spent a lot of time here. My mom actually lived here when she was 21 for a year and a half. So I drove down by where she used to live and saw her old apartment, so that was cool. It’s like five blocks away from here. It’s on rush, rush street? Something like that … She didn’t tell me too much [about living here]. [Laughs.] She used to always eat breakfast at IHOP or the national, whatever it’s called, the little pancake house that’s next to where she lived.”If she could jump into a pool of Halloween candy, she’d want it to be … “Sour gummy worms. Only the blue and pink kind because those are the best, and all the other ones are pointless. [Laughs.] I would want it to be Buncha Crunch, Raisinets and sour warheads.”On working with Johnny Knoxville: “He was really cool and fun to hang out with. He was telling me stories about how he hurt himself on ‘Jackass’ and everything. He mentioned one time how he had broken his penis, and that was interesting. [Laughs.]”On fans supporting her in a cause: “I work with a campaign called Girl Up that was started by the United Nations foundation to empower girls in the U.S. to give girls in developing countries a better future. I tweet about that a lot and I use social media to spread the word. It’s amazing how so many other girls and boys have gotten involved in the campaign and have become so passionate about it as well. And are donating money and starting fundraisers at school and putting in their twitter bios, like “Follow @girlup” and tweeting about it too. It’s really sweet that they’re being so supportive of this amazing cause and they want to get involved.”Guilty pleasure movies: “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Serendipity”Who she’s listening to: “I don’t know, my taste in music is so sporadic and all over the place. Right now I really love the xx. I think they’re awesome. I like Coldplay a lot. I love the Beatles.”

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